Cocoa butter is hard!

[berrymama]

I got a jar of cocoa butter from mountain rose herbs and want to use it as a skin moisturizer, but it is soooo hard. I have been scraping little bits off, warming them in my hands and then trying to rub it in. Is there a better way?

[Ruthla]

I do the scraping thing too. I've found that a little goes a long way, and it works best when my hands are still damp after washing them.

DD1 (who has much more patience for this kind of thing than I do) makes her own cocoa butter lotion by melting together cocoa butter, a liquid oil (such as grapeseed) in with it, then adding water, sealing the jar, and shaking it periodically as it hardens.

You can also melt the cocoa butter and add a liquid oil, stir or shake the oils together, and let it harden. This will give you a "body butter" that's softer and easier to use, but still needs to be applied on damp skin.

[syd'smom]

I use a cheese grater and grate a bit of cocoa butter into a container. Melts easier and is nice to apply!

[tankgirl136]

Originally Posted by Ruthla

I do the scraping thing too. I've found that a little goes a long way, and it works best when my hands are still damp after washing them.

DD1 (who has much more patience for this kind of thing than I do) makes her own cocoa butter lotion by melting together cocoa butter, a liquid oil (such as grapeseed) in with it, then adding water, sealing the jar, and shaking it periodically as it hardens.

You can also melt the cocoa butter and add a liquid oil, stir or shake the oils together, and let it harden. This will give you a "body butter" that's softer and easier to use, but still needs to be applied on damp skin.

I wanted to say DO NOT ADD WATER!!! This can cause bacteria and things to grow in the jar.

Your best bet is to use a oil grapeseed, Olive or other and melt the cocoa butter with the oil, if you have a little beeswax or caranuba wax add a bit of that and you can create your own very nice lotion. The standard ratio is twice the oil to Butter.

[berrymama]

Thanks for the replies! I melted some of the cocoa butter and mixed in a little sweet almond oil and beeswax. It is much more usable now...though I am not sure I got the ratios quite right!

[amcal]

You don't need the beeswax. I would just melt some cocoa butter and add a liquid oil. Everyone's preferences are different so, you can judge for yourself how much oil you want - obvously, the more oil, the softer it will be.

Personally, I would add about 1 part oil to 3 parts cocoa butter, gently melt them together and then when cool, I would whip with my mixer to get a fluffy body butter consistancy.

[blessedwithboys]

i love love love mixing cocoa butter with coconut oil, the really good stuff from TT that smells like coconut. this mixture ends up smelling and tasting like a candy bar. i once made up a batch of lip gloss that was cocoa butter, cocnut oil, a teeny bit of jojoba and then a drop or so of local beeswax and poured it into empty twist tubes. (i even colored it with mineral makeup so it was a rich creamy chocolate color) i dated a guy around that time who loved the lip gloss on me almost as much as i did! LOL

about using water...just make batches that will last only a week or two and preferably keep it in the fridge, though of course that is almost counter productive when talking about a thing that turns into a brick when chilled. thats why i love to use the coconut oil, it mushes at body temp

[amcal]

Originally Posted by Ruthla

DD1 (who has much more patience for this kind of thing than I do) makes her own cocoa butter lotion by melting together cocoa butter, a liquid oil (such as grapeseed) in with it, then adding water, sealing the jar, and shaking it periodically as it hardens.

.

I can't see how this would work. Oil and water don't mix. You would need some type of emulsifier to get them to mix, otherwise, you'll just end up with an oil layer, a butter layer and then a water layer.

Additionally, you really don't want to introduce water into any product unless you're going to preserve it. Water creates a breeding ground for a whole host of mold, yeast, bacteria etc... often times you can't even see the germs growing so the thought that you can just keep it in the refrigerator isn't really accurate. Things can start growing before you can even see them.